Tennis Roundup : Lendl Will Play Cash in Semifinals

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia beat Tim Mayotte, 6-3, 6-3, Friday in the $923,000 European Community Championship of Tennis at Antwerp, Belgium, setting up a meeting with Wimbledon champion Pat Cash of Australia.

Lendl, ranked No. 1 in the world, lost to Cash in the Wimbledon final last July.

Cash defeated Wojtek Fibak of Poland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in another quarterfinal match Friday.

Third-seeded Miloslav Mecir also advanced, downing sixth-seeded John McEnroe, 7-5, 6-3. Mecir lost to McEnroe in last year’s final.

Mecir will play second-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden, who eliminated Brad Gilbert, 6-2, 6-4.

Lendl, who has won the ECC event three times since it began in 1982, won in 75 minutes over Mayotte, who collected $50,000.

“I think I didn’t do much wrong out there,� said Mayotte, who is ranked 12th in the world. “He (Lendl) was solid as ever. He had an unbelievable forehand and put the ball back from tough positions. He is a great athlete . . . (He) is good for tennis. He takes it to new heights.�

At Hong Kong, third-seeded Eliot Teltscher advanced to the semifinals in the $200,000 Seiko Super tournament, beating Rick Leach, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Teltscher will meet Australia’s Darren Cahill, who ousted John Ross, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

In other matches, John Fitzgerald of Australia struggled to defeat Christian Saceanu of West Germany, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, and Jeremy Bates of Britain beat Tom Nijssen of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany never allowed a break point in defeating Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the $150,000 European Women’s Indoor Championship at Zurich, Switzerland.

Graf will face Katerina’s sister, Manuela, in a semifinal match today. Third-seeded Manuela defeated Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-2, 6-4.

In other matches, second-seeded Hana Mandlikova overpowered Judith Wiesner of Austria, 6-4, 7-5, and Nathalie Tauziat of France edged Christina Singer of West Germany, 7-5, 6-4.

Gigi Fernandez and Robin White defeated Sara Gomer and Clare Wood of Britain, 6-1, 7-5, at Williamsburg, Va., as the United States clinched its ninth straight victory in the Wightman Cup with a 4-0 lead.

Pam Shriver posted a 6-1, 7-5 win over Britain’s Jo Durie earlier in singles. The competition winds up with three matches today.